Weekend in Park City

With only two weeks before Chinese Grandma and Grandpa go back home, Mommy and Daddy have suddenly realized that they haven't taken them very many places. So now, they're dragging me all over the place trying to make up for their mistake. I hope the rest of my life isn't this unfair.

This past Saturday we went to a place called Park City. Which wasn't too far from our house. After my afternoon nap we loaded up into the car and drove for a while. I'm not too clear on what happened, all I remember was that we drove up a really big heal and Chinese Grandma kept trying to cover me with a pink umbrella so the sun wouldn't get me. It was really nice of her, but a little embarrassing. You never know who might be sitting in the car-seat in the mini-van next to you. I'll have Mommy reminder her that I'm a boy and make Daddy go get me a Batman umbrella.



The first place we went was called the Canyons. It was whole bunch of giant condos like Great Grandmas by Bear Lake, only this time there was now lake. Just a bunch of stores selling really expensive, funny colored clothes and some weird ropes with chairs on them going up and down the mountains. It was pretty, but I really didn't get the point of it all.

It was really hot out and even though my parents were smart enough to bring me some juice for me to drink, they didn't bring anything for them. Daddy bought two bottles of water from some Thai girls for $2 a piece. I thought in my life I'd seen it all, but a grown man paying for water may just be the craziest thing I've ever seen.



Fortunately we didn't drive all this way to just pay money for something we have a lot of at home. The next thing we did was get into a big metal box hanging form one of the ropes. Once the adults were all seated and I was properly being held, the box started moving faster heading up the mountain.

It was really pretty at first. The forest stretched out below us and I could see lots of pretty trees. Then we got to what should have been the end of the ride and when over into the next canyon. It was just then that I realized we were way up in the sky! This is not where I wanted to be. All of a sudden the occasional shaking of car wasn't fun, it was really scary. Chinese Grandpa was holding me but that wasn't enough. I wanted Daddy. But once Daddy was holding me I was close enough to Mommy that I wanted the best I could get.



Finally we got off the horrible thing and got out. We were in a really nice forest. We took a nice little walk, took a bunch of pictures, saw some birds and a ground squirrel and then drank some juice on a bridge over a little creek. I was starting to think that this place wasn't so bad.

Then they made me get back in that stupid thing!



This time I wasted no time expressing my displeasure. Right from the get go I was going to be with Mommy and I was going to be explaining how high we were and how scary that was. As we got to the bottom, the thing wasn't so high off the ground and Mommy's hugs were enough to make me feel better.

Daddy was no help. He just took my picture.

Daddy's kinda of a jerk some times.

After the ride in the car thing we went back down the mountain. Daddy drove us to a place where they held the Olympics seven whole years before I was born. I didn't think anything from so long ago would be very interesting, but once we got there, I was amazed by the stuff people had done. We saw all kinds of things from the Olympics. I even posed for a picture holding the torch, but you can't tell because Daddy has a stupid, big head so you can't see it in the picture.



We also got to watch some big kids do ski jumping. They did some amazing twists and turns in the air. It was truly a testament to the potential of the human body and the power of the human spirit. Chinese Grandma and Grandpa were very impressed. Daddy was distracted by a chipmunk.

I we left Daddy said some day I could be in the Olympics. For the first time in my life I feel pressure.



After the Olympic Park we went out for dinner. The Grown-ups ordered Mexican Food. I had baby food. It's really doesn't seem that fair now in retrospect but I was OK with it at the time. Probably because the girls at the next table and the waitresses were all entranced with me.

All in all it was a fun day. I can't understand why Mommy and Daddy would live so close to such a nice place for so long and never go. I hope they take me again soon.

Just not up that stupid mountain.

Our little guy is mobile.

Not much really to say out side of the header there. Grant is up and moving around all on his own. By up really am only talking about his head though, he's mostly just army crawling unless some one gets in his way to wrestle.

This new adventure started over the fourth of July weekend. We had taken Grant and his Chinese Grant parents to hang out with my family at Bear Lake, we'd had a good time but it was getting time to go. We were packing up and had put Grant on the bed while we were gathering up our stuff. He'd been a master level roller for a couple month by now so one of us was watching him to make sure he didn't roll any where he didn't belong (like off the bed).



Sure enough he rolled on to one side. He just chilled there for a minute as he often does and the rolled back to his stomach, only this time he moved his arm forward, just a bit. Then he rolled the other side. Again, when he returned to lying on his tummy he moved his free hand forward just enough. It didn't take long for him to realize what had happen. For the first time in his life he had moved along the z axis all on his own.



Excited he repeated the process. We were thrilled. When his Chinese grandparents came in we used a cell phone to coax him to repeat the process. The were thrilled. We took him home and practiced. Soon he realized he didn't need to “swim” to move forward. He has since learned to army crawl and to scoot forward, turning our little click beetle into an inchworm.



It's been really fun to watch him gain this new independence. Well, as fun as anything truly terrifying can be. I'm happy for him, I really am, but I kinda miss the days when all I had to remember was where I put him down. Now he could be anywhere.



That's not all he's doing that makes his father really excited when he does it when I'm in the room but scares the cupcakes out of me when he does it when I'm gone.



So everyone else went grocery shopping today, leaving us for some father/son bonding/rough housing time. He made a mess in his pants and I daddyed it away as best I could (some day I want to write a thesis on the changes that have happened to this kids poops since we started giving him solids). As is normal in these temporary single parent moments I put him in his crib to run and wash my hands.



It's been months since I was shocked to see him in a different position in his bed than the one I put him down in. But this time he was just turned around, he was vertical. As in standing. He'd not only pulled himself up using the edge but he was leaning over the edge at a heart attack inducing angle since the bed hasn't need to be lowered until just then.

So now we're going about baby proofing the house. So far we've piled a bunch of junk in front of the railing so he can't fall through there. We're good parents.